Influencers meet families of hostages in NYC

Over a dozen influencers participated in an intimate conversation with families of hostages being held by Hamas, in New York City on Nov. 7.

“The objective of this event is to foster understanding of why we need people to continue supporting the issue of the hostages and why the hostages should be a priority and come first,” said Leat Corinne Unger, the cousin of Hamas captive Omer Shem Tov’s mother Shelly.

“It’s hard with the Lebanese front and the election, all these different things that are taking away a lot of the attention from the issue which should be the priority and that’s human life,” she told JNS.

“Unfortunately until now the Biden administration has not secured the release of my cousin so maybe with the election of Trump we will see a change,” she said.

“To the Israeli people I say continue to love and fight for each other, stay united and don’t let the noise drown out the important part of what we are standing for, and that’s never leaving anyone behind.”

Speakers included relatives of Hamas captives Oded Lifshitz, Omri Miran and brothers Eitan and Yair Horn.

“We have had a hard fight. I really appreciate all the work you’re doing and I really think that emphasizing the hostage situation is essential,” said Daniel Lifshitz, the grandson of Oded Lifshitz.

“We killed [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, we killed [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, we killed [Hamas military leader Mohammed] Deif, we fought in many places and won. While we can’t forget Oct. 7 now is our time to push to bring our people back home,” he continued.

While Lifshitz’s grandfather remains in Hamas captivity, his grandmother Yocheved Lifshitz, who was also kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, was released in late October last year.

“My grandmother suffered so much. I wish the world would see how she was kidnapped, an 86-year-old woman on her stomach on a motorbike, she looked back and saw my grandfather lying … on the ground, unconscious, injured by a bullet, a man who fought for peace all his life,” said Lifshitz. “We still have 29 hostages from Kibbutz Nir Oz.”

The gathering was organized by Dana Cwaigrach, head of the New York Hostage and Missing Families Forum.

“There’s nothing more important than bringing our people home,” Cwaigrach said. “We can’t let them rot in there, it’s immoral and it is not a Zionist thing.”

Influencers participating in the event included Columbia University professor Shai Davidai and social media personality Lizzy Savetsky.

“I think we’ve had a lot of distractions lately with the elections and everything else happening in the world. We need to remember that our top priority should be our hostages,” Savetsky told JNS at the event. “I am here tonight to ground myself in the fight for our hostages. We still have over 100 in Gaza.”

Savetsky’s advocacy journey started in 2021 after Hamas targeted Israel with a barrage of rockets, she said.

“Instead of sympathizing with Israel and all the innocent civilians that had been killed, the world jumped to demonize Israel and Jews all over the world simply because of Israel’s response,” Savetsky explained. “By the time Oct. 7 came, I was in Israel in a bomb shelter with my family on that day, and I knew already exactly how it would play out.”

“I felt I had a critical role to play to use my voice to spread truth and [combat] lies,” she added.

Stand-up comedian Daniel Ryan Spaulding, who is not Jewish, also participated in the event.

“Hopefully when the hostages are released they’ll know that there are people that cared,” he said.

“I was born in Damascus, Syria. I came to the United States in 1994 with my family. Jews weren’t allowed to emigrate prior to 1992, prior to the United States reaching a treaty with Damascus that freed the Jews of Syria,” said Abraham Hamra, who attended the event.

“For us Jews, life is everything, and the lives of our hostages mean everything to me. It’s our obligation to continue fighting for the release of our hostages. I am here to show my support for the hostages and to the Israel Defense Forces to finish the job, to get our hostages back and defeat this enemy,” he said.

“The election just ended, everybody has different feelings of how it went but I think it’s important to refocus and understand the mission at hand — redeem the hostages and defeat our enemy once and for all.”